It's not pleasant to think about, but what would you do if you lost everything?

Few of us -- whether packrats or a minimalists -- could easily tick off a list of everything we own. Enter technology. Several apps and Web-based products now exist to make the task more thorough and, if you're a gadget geek, a lot more fun.

Colorado Springs/Denver-based EnsureMyStuff.com sprang up from the ashes of last summer's Waldo Canyon fire. Company co-founders Joe Thurman and William Williams had friends and family affected by the fire, which destroyed 347 homes.

"People were in situations that they were reimbursed nothing on the personal-property side," Thurman said. "It's a significant problem. So we thought we should find a way to solve this."

They held town-hall meetings to gather information, met with members of Congress to discuss insurance legislation, spoke with insurance-claims adjusters and formed partnerships with disaster-relief organizations.

Ensuremystuff.com allows users to store inventory information online, keeping it safe from any type of disaster. Of course, this comes with a price. Standard membership runs $8.95 a month, and premium is $12.95, with the latter having more storage space. A free membership limits a user to two rooms. But paying for the service has an additional benefit.

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"Part of your membership every month goes back to disaster relief. We want to do that. This app is built for the community," Thurman said. "That's one of our differentiating factors: Build a good product, but build a product that serves the community."

The user interface is simple, clean and logical. A user picks a room, lists an item and uploads up to four photos per item. There are spaces for serial numbers, purchase date and price, and more. It may seem like overkill, but it's necessary.

"If you did have that 60-inch 3-D Samsung $3,000 TV, but you don't have documentation of it, what's going to keep (the insurance company) from saying they won't cover it?" Thurman said. "We're there to have a cost-effective way to replace it, to have peace of mind."

Colorado Commissioner of Insurance Jim Riesberg said his agency has been working diligently to educate and encourage the public to take inventories. Sure, it's time-consuming, but in the case of disaster, it makes all the difference. So whether done using the latest technology or old-fashioned paper and pen, the important part is just to do it.

"The difficulty is that whenever there's a total loss, the only person who knows what was lost is the property owner," Riesberg said. "Knowing what you have is very important."

Riesberg also advised all policyholders to review their policy annually and to not assume that disaster can't happen to you.

"We need to get the message out there about personal responsibility," he said. "People can't just rely on a written contract to be able to answer all of the questions. They have a responsibility to know what they have, to know what they're covered for."

Thurman said his company is focusing on learning as much as it can from the coming fire season to help as many people as possible. Ensuremystuff.com has iOS and Android apps in development for a potential late 2013 or early 2014 release.

Ready to start your inventory? There are an abundance of tech resources that can help. Here are some of the best -- in addition to ensuremystuff.com -- we've found:

-- NestEgg is a sexy app that is available only for iOS. It has bar-code scanning, data-crunching output such as lists and pie charts of your belongings, and a simple interface. It's easy -- even fun -- to use. No word on whether it is coming to Android. App Store: $2.99.

-- MyHome Scr.app.book is an app from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. It carries basic functionality that easily allows lists, logical grouping of items and uploading of photos. Minuses? No bar-code scanning and, well, it's simple. If you're looking for bells and whistles, this isn't it. Google Play and App Store: free.

-- A Mac app called Home Inventory has been getting some attention lately. It has mobile compatibility with any Apple device and has an option to back up inventory to a mobile device. It is thorough, which may be intimidating to those just wanting to dip a toe into making an inventory. Mac App Store: $19.99.

Android has the upper hand with MyHome, which has much of the same functionality as NestEgg. The Lite version is free, but it's fairly limited. The Pro version allows up to 10 pictures per item, creation of tags for easy organization and generation of PDF reports. Easy to use and worth the cost. Google Play: $3.99.

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